Update ME4 storage array controllers and disks - U144 and U184

Products

• Security Analytics

Issue/Introduction

The storage arrays receive regular updates from Dell.  Often, these are not needed but some are deemed CRITICAL.  These instructions will help you update the firmware for both the controllers and the disks. The firmware for the controller can be updated while the system is up and running.  The firmware for the disks requires that Security Analytics be stopped and no data sent to the packet or meta filesystems.

There have been EMP errors coming from the management controller.  These errors are informational only and are resolved within five seconds but will trigger a notification of hardware or disk problems.  These appear to be fixed in the GT280R014-01 release.    The errors may call out alert condition on a "current sensor", "voltage sensor", "temperature sensor", or other internal sensors.

The disks have been reported as Failed but are good.  Replacing a reported failed disk may not solve the problem.  The firmware should be updated to at least the Hitachi (HGST) NM10 release.

Environment

This is for both the Broadcom U144 and U184 storage arrays.  Dell knows these as ME4012 and ME4084 or just ME4.

Resolution

The most recent firmware is kept by Dell in their support library.  You will need to download the controller and the disk firmware.  These can also be done separately, as needed. There are no interruptions for the controller update but the disk update will require that all disk traffic be stopped.

 

1. Login to the storage array with your browser to obtain the Service Tag.  It is found by hovering your mouse over the System name on the top row, center of the line.
2. In a new tab, enter the URL, https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us
3. Enter the Service Tag/Serial number of storage array
4. Select Drivers and Downloads
5. For the controller firmware, select Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series Storage Controller Firmware. As of this writing, the most recent release is GT280R014-01.
6. For the disk firmware, select the latest release.  The latest as of this update is A37_ME_Series_HDD_Firmware_with_ReadMe.zip

For both the controllers and the disks -

1. Unzip the files on your desktop. Note - The finder in MacOS will unzip the bin file into multiple smaller files. In other words, the .bin file is a tar archive of multiple files and finder will unpack them.  DO NOT use finder to unpack the GT280R014-01 file. Use unzip on the command line for MacOS.
2. Login to the storage array using the Web interface.
3. Select the green down arrow to the right of the System Name and Version
4. Select Update Firmware

For the controller firmware update -

1. In the pop up box, be sure to select the "Update Controller Modules" tab
2. In the Bundle or Controller Firmware File line, select Browse and find the .bin file unzipped earlier.
3. As of this writing, the controller firmware update is named GT280R014-01-dellemc.bin
4. Be sure to select "Partner Firmware Update" so that both controllers are updated.
5. Select OK to start the firmware update.  The update can be done during production.  There is no interruption to services. This takes longer than expected but the I/O to the array will continue.  Expect the controller(s) to be non-responsive for 5-15 minutes.
6. At this point, the controller will upload the 50+ MB bin file and show the progress of the update.

 

To update the disks, you will need to stop all I/O traffic to and from the disks. Allow 30 minutes total to shutdown the traffic, update the firmware and start the Security Analytics sensor again.

1. In the storage array browser tab, select the "Update Disk Drives" tab from the instructions above for the firmware.
2. Select the drives you want to update.  There is a blue right arrow on the far right side for more pages of disks to select.  Multiple disks can be selected at one time.
3. Login to the sensor using as root and stop all traffic with 'scotus stop'.
4. At your browser, select HGST/NM10.bin
5. Select OK to start the firmware update on the disks.  This takes less than five minutes.
6. Start Security Analytics services again from the SSH command line with 'scotus start'.

This completes the firmware update.